2019/0063/DK
EC/EFTA
DK Danemark
  • C00A - AGRICULTURE, PECHE ET DENREES ALIMENTAIRES
2019-05-15
2019-02-20

Foodstuffs produced using traditional methods at the production, pre-processing or distribution stage.

Draft Order on the hygiene of foodstuffs

It is now specified in the Order that the accepted traditional methods are

1) the maturing of cheese in pits, caves, bunkers, etc.,

2) the maturing of cheese on wooden shelves,

3) the receipt and handling of meat from domestic ungulates, poultry, farmed game and game, as well as fish and crustaceans from the end-consumer with a view to returning to the consumer for use in the consumer’s own household,

4) the drying of fish in the open air, as long as the fish are protected against pollution to a reasonable degree. In the first three cases of production specified, it is a precondition that the establishment is specifically equipped for this type of production. In all cases, special conditions for production can be imposed.

Production under these special conditions can only take place in establishments in which specific account has been taken of the special production during authorisation as a foodstuff establishment. In this context, it was considered whether cheese can be stored in a satisfactory way from the viewpoint of food safety in pits, caves etc., which do not meet the requirements for fittings in Annex II, Chapter II, item 1 in Regulation (EU) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs and whether cheese can be stored in a satisfactory way on wooden shelves, which do not meet the requirements for equipment in Annex II, Chapter V, item 1 of the same Regulation. The authorisation to use the traditional methods of receipt and handling, typically for the salting and smoking of the end-consumer's foodstuffs, which are to be returned to the consumer for use in the consumer’s own household, was on the basis of the fact that the food establishments in question already handle the relevant types of goods in the establishment and that the production can be seen to be possible in a satisfactory manner for food safety, even if the establishment cannot guarantee compliance with all the provisions of Annex II, Chapter IX of the Regulation, in the same way that the traditional drying of fish is seen to be possible in a satisfactory manner for food safety, even if it cannot be entirely guaranteed that Annex II, Chapter IX, item 2 of the Regulation can be entirely met.